1015 Tasting Notes

This is a very good Earl, but it isn’t typical as it has lavender added. The lavender is medium in strength with the bergamot just barely more noticeable. The tea base of this tea really is great. I hate when companies add lots of bergamot to cover up the inferior tea base, but when the tea base is nice and smooth the small addition of bergamot is magical. As much as I love Earl Grey, I usually add sweetener and/or milk. However, this is the only Earl Grey I can think of that I really love without anything added. The floral notes of this tea are so perfectly balanced. You should try it at least once!

I once again started my day with this tea. I knew that I would need the comforting taste combination of chocolate and hazelnut in order to deal with the crazy 6 year olds that have just had two unexpected bad weather days. This tea was perfect!

Preparation

This is another sample that I received from the very nice people at Joy’s Teaspoon. I chose this one because I absolutely love wine and riesling is a favorite of my husband and I. I was skeptical that this would work out as riesling is a fairly light flavored wine and white tea is obviously a light flavor also…but I was very hopeful that this would be great.

I wasn’t disappointed. The tea is smooth, lightly sweet grape with a floral aftertaste. There was even a hint of the “bite” of wine, but don’t get me wrong, this tea is anything but astringent. I added a very scant pinch of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness, but honestly the tea would have been just fine without it.

It is rare to find a white tea that tastes like I want it to, but this one delivers. If you enjoy wine, even a little bit, you should definitely check out this tea.

Preparation

This tea isn’t great and it isn’t horrible, just right in the middle. It is a robust black tea that reminds me more of an assam strength than a typical ceylon. This tea is a bit of a blank canvas as in it is great because you can change the flavor dramatically by adding additions. Overall, it reminds me of PG Tips a bit although PG Tips are better in my opinion.

A nice cup if you just want something, but nothing to write home about.

I love starting my day with Florence. I mean, how bad can the day turn out when beginning with a cup of rich chocolate and hazelnut goodness? We are once again home from work and school today (the smallest amount of ice or snow really shuts Texas down!) so I’m expecting a long day full of delicious tea and getting caught up on my homework online.

This is one of the samples that I received from Joy’s Teaspoon earlier this week. I appreciate that this is a very natural tasting cinnamon tea that isn’t trying too hard to cover up the tea base. I also think that the black tea base is of a good quality. It is quite bakey and smooth through the sip. This does taste like a cinnamon roll without the icing. Pretty good!

Preparation

I have been on such a black tea kick lately that I have been neglecting the rest of my cupboard. I pulled this one out this afternoon for a nice change of pace and let me tell you, a VERY nice change it is! I’ve missed this one.
Today the buttery oolong is dominant with the caramel sweetness hitting the end of the sip. The aftertaste is both sweet and kind of nutty which is a bit different from what I remember.
I had forgotten how light and sweet this tea is and how much I enjoy sipping on multiple infusions throughout a lazy afternoon.

This tea seemed like the perfect thing to help warm me up on this bad weather day. And since I don’t have to go to work today, it just seemed right (and almost forbidden) to start the day off with a Whiskey Sour tea. I think Frank nailed this tea. The Yunnan is smooth and slightly malty (but only noticeably malty when milk is added), just enough of the Whiskey flavor to rival the actual thing and of course the perfect amount of lemon and cherry flavors. Wow, this stuff is good.

I usually add a bit of sugar to this tea but decided to try it with honey tonight. The honey changes the taste, but I really like it this way. It is more of a candied fruit type of flavor but not overly sweet. I may not always put honey in it, but I am enjoying this change of pace tonight.

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Black tea is probably my favorite type of tea, but I rather enjoy most types… I’m even developing a taste for pu-erh.

Rating Scale:
0-10: This tea is either flavorless or just plain undrinkable. I will avoid these teas in the future.

11-20: I was only able to make it through a few sips before pouring the tea out.

21-30: I may have been able to make it through the first cup but the thought of having another has me cringing.

31-40: Teas in this range are not horrible, but nothing I would seek out in the future.

41-60: Would drink if offered, but would not purchase for myself.

61-70: Okay, nothing special

71-80: Enjoyable, but I have to be in the mood for these. Probably would purchase if I found a really great price.

81-90: Pretty good tea, will probably be one of my favorites.

91-95: These teas are really excellent. I wouldn’t necessarily run out and buy more of these (just because there are so many teas out there that I haven’t tried), but I would miss this tea.

96-99: Terrific, very impressive.

100: This special rating is reserved for teas that are absolutely perfect in my opinion. I will only give out a rating of 100 to one tea per category (Earl Grey, unflavored black, dessert tea, Irish Breakfast, etc). These are teas that I really want to have around.